Your trusted source

The Baku Appeals Court upheld a lower court's decision to extend the pretrial detention of investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova to March 24, according to regional press reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for Ismayilova's immediate release.

"The continued pretrial detention of Khadija Ismayilova underscores that authorities have no evidence that she committed any crime and are only trying to silence her," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said, calling on Azerbaijani officials to drop these fabricated charges and release Ismayilova immediately.

“They can then turn their attention to freeing the other seven journalists in prison because of their work,” she noted.

The report notes that according to CPJ research, Azerbaijan is the worst jailer of journalists in Europe and Central Asia, with at least eight behind bars.

On December 5, morning, well-known Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova was detained after being questioned at the prosecutor's office. Baku Sabail District Court made a decision to detain her for two months. She was charged with incitement to suicide. If the fault of the journalist is proven, then she can be punished by a term of 3 to 7 years in prison. Khadija Ismayilova has become the target of attacks of the government for her journalistic activities. Ismayilova is an author of a number of journalistic investigations of corruption in the highest echelons of power in Azerbaijan. In recent years, she is conducting a talk show in the Azerbaijani Service of “Radio Liberty”.